Anomalies
by Saphrae
Summary: By the time Nick tells his partner who he is—what he is—Hank already knows the truth. AU.


Disclaimer: I do not own Grimm, nor am I making any money as a result of this piece. Alas, I am but a poor, broke college student.

**Anomalies**

Hank wasn't sure, the first time. The door was shut, and there was plenty of noise from the other police officers. He could have misunderstood. But it was against protocol for a reason—Nick should never have shut the door without someone else in there as witness—so Hank stood close to the door to listen, to be as much a witness as he could be. Even so, he was certain that he must have heard incorrectly.

"I'm not asking you as a cop, so don't expect me to act like one."

Hank doesn't say anything, the first time, as Nick holds the street kids no one else would have missed.

* * *

><p>The second time, even Nick looks unsure. The man isn't a suspect—they only wanted to ask him for his statement—but he flees from them like they are the Devil incarnate and when they catch him, he attacks Nick with his bare hands, scratching his face. Hank pins the guy, of course. Same as he would do to anyone who attacked his partner.<p>

But despite the fact that it is Hank who is loaming over him and Hank that is holding him against a brick wall and Hank who is playing 'bad cop', it's Nick that scares the guy. Hank can see it in his eyes.

"That's all I saw. I swear. On my mother's blood. I'm nothing to you, Grimm."

The second time, Hank meets Nick's eyes over the two long, barely healing cuts and understands, a little, why the guy was scared.

* * *

><p>"Those three were like sisters." They hear and the case gets weirder and weirder while the little clues stack up slowly but consistently. Nick has a fascination with a yellow and black cell phone cover, and there are those man-sized bee hives that never really get explained, and there is evidently something wrong with the victim's tongues.<p>

They save a woman's life, but she's too deep in shock to be grateful, or to be making much sense at all. Another suspect ends up shot. For a rookie, Nick's long stare has suddenly become a far more accurate profile than it once was. And a far more sporadic one.

The little clues don't tell Hank anything, not then, not right away, except that he is careful to avoid that long, profiling stare. On Nick's advice, he also avoids the last of the three lawyers.

* * *

><p>It's four months after Marie Kessler died when Hank first asks the question. Nick is found standing in a metal cage holding a sword, his firearm is never recovered, and the witnesses swear that there was a second man in the cage, for whom Nick risked his life. They seem convinced that Nick could not have simply been overpowered, even by a blood thirsty crowd.<p>

They never do find Taymor.

Four months after the death of Marie Kessler, Nick falsely pleads ignorance, but Hank lets him go anyway. The only reason his partner isn't in the hospital is because he's home with his not-yet fiancé.

In the end—or is it the beginning? tales have a funny way of shifting like that—Hank doesn't have to say anything, or avoid anything, or ask anything.

* * *

><p>Nick is gone five days when Hank is desperate enough to go to Monroe. Monroe, who was once accused of kidnapping. Monroe, whose brother was killed in a fire. Monroe, who Nick's phone records indicate receives more calls than Juliette. Monroe, who opens the door, sighs, and walks away, leaving the door open and seeming to assume Hank will enter. Monroe, who is with Hank in the woods when they find the cave where Nick is being held, who fights off three times as many thugs as Hank as they battle their way to the man they came to rescue. Monroe, who loses all semblance of control when a stranger with a curved farm tool enters the hide out and is slammed against a wall, and falls, unmoving, for his efforts.<p>

"Leave them alone. I'm the Grimm. It's me you want."

When Nick somehow wins, despite being unarmed and despite being outnumbered, he goes to Monroe almost cautiously, as though afraid to spook him. After the murders Hank has seen and the weird he has explained on case file after case file, he sees Monroe's eyes go red as he's startled into consciousness.

Five days after he goes missing, Nick Burkhardt helps Monroe into the sun, supporting more of his weight than he should be able to, scanning the area for threats.

Hank suspects "Grimm" is meant to describe the German Shaman he sees out of the corner of his eye.

* * *

><p>The beer that night tastes especially bitter. Monroe invites himself along by simply not leaving, and Nick doesn't protest, so Hank doesn't either.<p>

The explanation is long, rambling, and occasionally punctuated by Monroe's helpful and not-so-helpful commentary. It is filled with justifications and caveats. It is overflowing with unanswered questions, doubts, holes and traps. And then the explanation is done, and Nick is waiting for Hank to speak.

"Look, man, I don't know the first thing about Grimms. But if you think you're getting out of being my partner just because this town is going to the crazies, think again. You're too good a cop be anything else."

- Story End. 900 words. -

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading! All feedback is appreciated.

I wrote this way back in the middle of season one, before we knew how Nick would tell his friends about being a Grimm. I wasn't happy with it until now, though. So this has become AU simply by virtue of not being published in a timely fashion. (Also, I played the timeline a little.)

Regards,

Saphrae


End file.
